The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Submitted by Flin Flon Ski Club This past decade the Flin Flon Ski Club has been busily reestablishing its reputation for having great ski trails. Volunteers have been upgrading the trails _ widening some narrower sections for unimpeded skate and classic skiing, and creating several short new loops for sprints _ to add to our already impressive vertical. The results have paid off and since 2009 the Club has hosted the Saskatchewan Provincials twice and in 2012 hosted the inaugural SaskMan Cup. This inter provincial event is aimed at developing high performance competition between Saskatchewan and Manitoba cross country skiers. It also aims to give more in-depth experience to coaches and officials. The ultimate goal is to advance our skiers to the National level. Even though our events have been acclaimed and highly successful, the common concern for both the competing skiers and the Technical Delegates has been the few narrower 'bottleneck' sections along the trails. These occur where the trails traverse the Precambrian bedrock ridges which are a characteristic feature of the fantastic terrain around here. To provide local residents with the best possible skiing experience, and to allow us to host the highest caliber events, the Club executive decided to tackle the task of blasting out the bedrock on our primary five kilometer Race Loop. Four major areas were chosen for alteration, and fundraising began for the $40,000 we estimated we would need. Funds were secured from the HudBay 80th Anniversary Fund and Cross Country Saskatchewan. Our contractor, Cambrian Blasting, and their vendors, Dyno Nobel and McKeen's Trucking, helped allow the job to be completed at a significantly reduced cost to the club. Not only will skiers now find a very good race course even better and worthy of their best effort during competition; but the grooming process will be improved for volunteers and will also be easier on our equipment.
